Tell Me
by InThe27thKingdom
Summary: GSR When the summer had finally come and the air was heavy with humidity and sweetly fragranted with the scent of life, Sara left. Complete! R&R!


Hey all! I hope you enjoy these! Please R&R! I will love you to pieces!

This is my first GSR fic!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own CSI or any of the characters and I am gaining nothing monetary from playing with them here! Just having some good fun! And the song "Drops of Jupiter" which was the prompt for this fic, is all Trains!

**Soul Gazing**

When the summer had finally come and the air was heavy with humidity and sweetly fragranted with the scent of life, Sara left. It wasn't a permanent leave, she would be returning in a month or two, but she still wasn't there with Grissom. Over the years she had accumulated so many sick days that when she asked for this time off, though surprised and somewhat hurt, he had to comply.

_ I want to do a little soul searching _ , she had said with a full gap-toothed smile. She always reserved that smile for only him. All he could do was sigh and nod. _ If that's what you need _ , he had said. She was gone the next day.

The team noticed immediately that she wasn't the first person in the break room the next shift and they wondered what could have happened to her. It surprised them all, Grissom included, when Greg, after remaining quiet throughout Nick and Catherine's questions, spoke up.

_She's taking a much deserved month or two off _ , he had piped in quietly. The entire shift had their eyes on Greg and he just looked at each of them matter-of-factly before his gaze met Grissom's and he continued, _ She'll be back soon enough. _

And that was that. No one questioned her disappearance again.

The summer months were always filled with death in Nevada. Usually brought on by heat: babies left in cars, elderly people suffering heat stroke. The heat was deadly, but children also fell into pools, and teens would do stupid dares. Stores were broken into more frequently and air conditioners short circuited. When the temperatures outside rose, so did the tempers of the people inside and more fights over stupid things broke out and more people were carelessly murdered.

All day long Grissom would think of Sara; how this case was just like one they had worked on, how cheeky her remark would have been to a disgruntled suspect, the way her ponytail would stick to her sweaty neck in this heat. He missed her and though he was silent in his suffering, everyone knew.

The paperwork alone from the numerous cases was enough to keep him busy for the month and a half she ended up being gone for, but everything reminded him of Sara and not even roller coasters could ease his troubled heart. Her return should have been the greatest relief of all, but the smile on her face that never seemed to waver throughout her first day back was more unsettling than her not being there at all. Catherine and Nick exchanged concerned glances after assignments were passed out. Grissom looked frightened and that was unsettling for them. Only Greg knew what was actually going on and he was the only one who knew just how frightened Sara really was as well. Especially when Grissom assigned her to help him do paperwork while the rest of the team was sent out onto the strip for a triple homicide.

The knock on his door frame was soft, but it echoed in the silence of his darkened office. The night was overcast and the only light in the room was created by the small desk lamp he had turned on over the file he was staring blankly at. When he looked up, locking eyes with Sara, she instinctively shut the door behind her.

"Are you okay?" she asked in hushed tones. Her entire stance radiated her concern.

Grissom's only response was to take off his glasses and pinch the bridge of his nose. For a moment he squeezed his distant eyes shut while a hushed "No" escaped his lips.

Sara was frozen in place, standing on the other side of his desk, while watching the man before her grasp for his own words. He was so accustomed to spitting out facts and quotes that his own feelings seemed too foreign to be expressed.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" he asked, voice tinged with painful regret. His eyes mirrored his tone.

She cocked her head to the side slightly as she thought about his question, understanding that there was something deeper he wanted to know, but unsure of exactly what he wanted to hear her say. She searched his sad blue eyes and decided to just speak the truth and hope that it answered his question.

"I did," she began carefully. She had to word this right. "I found myself..." She told him. Her warm brown eyes seemed to bore into his soul as they searched his sad blue ones, and for once Grissom didn't turn away and hide. Instead he stood, never breaking eye contact with Sara.

She looked younger, he decided, much younger than she had before she left. In fact, she looked so young that when she smiled he could picture her back in the lecture hall where they had first met. But he wasn't as young as he once was. He shook his head at the thought and squeezed his eyes shut.

He was startled when he felt her hand on his cheek. There was no plaster dust there this time. No excuse.

"Gil," she prompted softly and his heart melted for her.

His words came easy now, and though they weren't his own she knew he meant them. "So tell me, did you sail across the sun? Did you make it to the Milky Way to see the lights all faded and that heaven is overrated? Tell me, did you fall for a shooting star- One without a permanent scar? And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there?"

When he looked up at her and his eyes locked with her's, a slight blush evident in his cheeks, she reassuringly rubbed her thumb against his cheek.

"I told you I was looking for myself," she whispered, "I came right back as soon as I realized I'd left myself behind."

His forehead wrinkled as he furrowed his brow, slightly confused. His mouth fell open when she touched her other hand, palm flat, to his chest.

"I'm here," she said while nodding towards his heart. She grinned slightly, "I've always been there...I always will be..."

Grissom worked his jaw as he struggled to say something, anything, in response to the weighty information she had just given him.

"Gil, I missed you...even if you're too scared to fly," she grinned when she referred to the song he'd just quoted. "I wouldn't want to be anywhere else except here with you."

For a moment, Grissom just stared into her eyes, obviously touched by her frankness. Her strength and courage. She gasped when he cupped her neck in his hand and pulled her against him into a much needed embrace.

"Sara, I missed you..." he whispered into her hair. That was all he could say, but it was more than enough for now. He felt her wrap her arms around him and pull him closer and he pretended that the soft cries he heard were only coming from Sara. He was finally taking a chance. He was finally going to fly.


End file.
